Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe. His explication of the fundamental powers of the cosmos is mystical and ecstatic and points directly to the need to activate one’s own creative powers.
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"Seldom, if ever, within the scientific tradition, has the excitement of the universe been expressed in such memorable phrasing."
(Thomas Berry, Creation magazine )
(Thomas Berry, Creation magazine )
About the Author
Brian Swimme, Ph.D., a specialist in mathematical cosmology, was educated at Santa Clara University and the University of Oregon. At the present time, he is the director of the Center for the Story of the Universe, a research affiliate of the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco.
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Brian Swimme is a professor of cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco. His department, "Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness" (PCC), is the only graduate program in the western world that places equal emphasis on contemporary science, indigenous spirituality, classical philosophy, and feminist thought for its masters and doctoral programs. He and his colleagues at CIIS have created this program in order to re-imagine the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community.
The heart of Brian Swimme's work is his focus on knowledge that is transformative--of ourselves and of our civilization. His graduate program attracts intellectually engaged women and men who are in varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in industrial societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Keeping in mind Alfred North Whitehead's view that the function of the university is to enable the future to appear, first in conceptual thought, the PCC faculty and graduate students hold in mind three fundamental goals:
1. To open our consciousness, through learning and imagination, to those creative and evolutionary energies suffusing the Earth, the universe, and the deep psyche that will enable us to participate fully in the regeneration of human communities and their enveloping life systems.
2. To analyze the current devastation of planetary life and to strive to liberate ourselves and our communities from the underlying causes of alienation, consumerism, militarism, androcentrism, and unsustainable modes of life.
3. To draw from the deep wells of philosophical and religious wisdom together with other scholarly and scientific insights in order to bring forth a profound vision of a vibrant planetary era.
Brian Swimme's work joins with those scientists, scholars, and visionaries who recognize that the Earth community is facing an unprecedented evolutionary challenge, the most severe degradation of life in the last 65 million years. This multifaceted crisis requires a fundamental reorientation of our civilization, one in which a compassionate humanity becomes a mutually enhancing presence within Earth's complex systems of life. Cultural historian Thomas Berry, who is co-author of "The Universe Story", has called this task "the Great Work."
Brian Swimme's work, both as a writer and a professor in the PCC program, is committed to shaping the leadership necessary for profound, progressive transformation of social institutions and individual consciousness. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas of Western intellectual and spiritual traditions, together with insights from Asian spiritual philosophies and indigenous world views, Swimme and the faculty of PCC have constructed a multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate each student's journey into his or her particular leadership role within this work.
Brian Swimme was born in Seattle, Washington, earned his Bachelor's degree in California, his doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Oregon, and now teaches in San Francisco.
Photo Credit: Caroline Webb.
The heart of Brian Swimme's work is his focus on knowledge that is transformative--of ourselves and of our civilization. His graduate program attracts intellectually engaged women and men who are in varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in industrial societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world. Keeping in mind Alfred North Whitehead's view that the function of the university is to enable the future to appear, first in conceptual thought, the PCC faculty and graduate students hold in mind three fundamental goals:
1. To open our consciousness, through learning and imagination, to those creative and evolutionary energies suffusing the Earth, the universe, and the deep psyche that will enable us to participate fully in the regeneration of human communities and their enveloping life systems.
2. To analyze the current devastation of planetary life and to strive to liberate ourselves and our communities from the underlying causes of alienation, consumerism, militarism, androcentrism, and unsustainable modes of life.
3. To draw from the deep wells of philosophical and religious wisdom together with other scholarly and scientific insights in order to bring forth a profound vision of a vibrant planetary era.
Brian Swimme's work joins with those scientists, scholars, and visionaries who recognize that the Earth community is facing an unprecedented evolutionary challenge, the most severe degradation of life in the last 65 million years. This multifaceted crisis requires a fundamental reorientation of our civilization, one in which a compassionate humanity becomes a mutually enhancing presence within Earth's complex systems of life. Cultural historian Thomas Berry, who is co-author of "The Universe Story", has called this task "the Great Work."
Brian Swimme's work, both as a writer and a professor in the PCC program, is committed to shaping the leadership necessary for profound, progressive transformation of social institutions and individual consciousness. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas of Western intellectual and spiritual traditions, together with insights from Asian spiritual philosophies and indigenous world views, Swimme and the faculty of PCC have constructed a multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate each student's journey into his or her particular leadership role within this work.
Brian Swimme was born in Seattle, Washington, earned his Bachelor's degree in California, his doctoral degree in mathematics at the University of Oregon, and now teaches in San Francisco.
Photo Credit: Caroline Webb.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An invaluable teaching resource,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story (Paperback)
There is probably no better way to introduce the non-scientist to the philosophical implications of the emerging 'quantum' worldview. As a mathematical cosmologist, Brian understands the details behind the amazing revelations of the 'new physics' and with unique talent weaves a wonderful tale of the complementary meaning we must see in these details. I have used this book as a primary text in courses I have taught in science and society and years later had students recall with great fondness the sense of awe, spirit and personal vision it awakened in them. This is not another work of the nice but limited science-and -religion-are-the-same school, but a truly deep and accessable presentation of the new scientific worldview that combines technical understanding with spiritual meaning. A true gem that educates and inspires hope!
38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awe-inspiring explanation of life, meaning, and existence.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story (Paperback)
As a supplement to the thoughts of Lonergan, Ursula Franklin, Thomas Aquinas, and Plato, this book serves to put into poetic terms the dance of physics, biology, cognitive thought, creation, evolution, spirituality, psychology, love, life, death, meaning, and essentially everything else this universe holds. It was interesting to see this work done in the matter of the dialogues - it worked for the Greeks for teaching difficult topics. The book holds much more meaning if you have already studied concepts of life, such as those expressed by Lonergan. The reader is really forced to think in a completely different manner in order to understand Swimme's thoughts. You look at everything differently after reading this; you gain a new love of life and in the process become more human. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in life and existence, no matter what your background knowledge is. Best thing out there!
33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
. . . and we are the dragon's fire.,
By
This review is from: The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story (Paperback)
I arrived at this book after reading Swimme's more recent book, THE UNIVERSE STORY (1994). Both books reimmersed me into the enchanting wonders of a child gazing up into the stars. This book is written in the classical form of a philosophical dialogue between two speakers, "Thomas" and "Youth." Swimme's book is dedicated to his more recent collaborator, Thomas Berry "and the cosmological tradition he celebrates, stretching back from Erich Jantsch and Teilhard de Chardin through Thomas Aquinas to Plato" (p. 19). The other speaker, "Youth," serves as a reminder that, "having only just arrived on this planet, we are still learning what it means to become fully human" (p. 87)."The universe bestows on us fire from the beginning of time, simultaneously evoking our profound reverence for this fire" (p. 169), Swimme writes. He uses the green dragon metaphor "to avoid lulling [us] into thinking we have the universe in our grasp, like a stray dog shut up in its kennel" (p. 25). "It is outrageous to compare the universe to a green dragon," he writes, "but I hope this will express some of my astonishment at what we now know about the universe" (p. 26). "The universe continues to unfold, continues to reveal itself to itself through human awareness" (p. 31). Simply stated, Swimme's premise is that "the universe is a single multiform event. There is no such thing as a disconnected thing. Each thing emerged from the primeval fireball, and nothing can remove the primordial link this establishes with every other thing in the universe, no matter how distant" (pp. 59-60). The same dynamics that forged the fireball and the trillions of stars are also at work within us (p. 109). We are dragon fire. "The universe is enchantment" (p. 94), and Swimme's profound book is liberating. As the universe unfolds, it demands our response: "Do we awake, dedicating ourselves to a vision of beauty worthy of our fire's origin?" (p. 169). G. Merritt
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